Nature contains the elements, in colour and form, of all pictures, as the keyboard contains the notes of all music.

But the artist is born to pick, and choose, and group with science, these elements, that the result may be beautiful—as the musician gathers his notes, and forms his chords, until he bring forth from chaos glorious harmony.

To say to the painter, that Nature is to be taken as she is, is to say to the player, that he may sit on the piano.

That Nature is always right, is an assertion, artistically, as untrue, as it is one whose truth is universally taken for granted. Nature is very rarely right, to such an extent even, that it might almost be said that Nature is usually wrong: that is to say, the condition of things that shall bring about the perfection of harmony worthy a picture is rare, and not common at all.

The Tuesday evening watercolor class, which meets at the Beard Building, 9 Main St., Cortland, from 6:30-8:30 pm, will begin a new series next Tuesday, February 28, focusing on the watercolors by one of the artists listed below each week. All the artists are realists, but they vary across a wide spectrum in their interpreatation of reality.

Now for the homework...

I'll post information and images of Whistler below. Please comment with your observations on his style and approach, your likes and dislikes, and we'll see what we come up with! Tuesday we will look at the posted images of his watercolors and will compile a class list that we feel describes his means of interpreting reality through his painting. The list should include not only specific techniques that prevail, but also the role they play in projecting his vision as created through his interprestation of reality in his watercolors. We will then use a source photo to paint watercolors in class using Whistler's approach as a basis.